Gohan and the Saiyan rationale
by Foust2014
Summary: Without a father and the fate of the Earth now resting solely on the whim of the enigmatic Vegeta, Gohan decides to step up to the plate. Rational Style.
1. Chapter 1 - Miracle Cure

Author's Notes:

I always wondered why nobody ever used the Sayians' completely broken capabilities to their fullest extent. Realizing that he's without a father and the fate of the planet is now resting on the mere whim of the mighty Vegeta, Gohan decides to take a trip into the rational-verse and step up to the plate.

* * *

"He's dead."

He'd seen it himself, the end of an entire planet. A whole race of people wiped out, or nearly so. Destruction orchestrated by a single man, a single entity. It had commanded an army, elite soldiers who wielded terrifying powers in their own right, but it was merely a show. The soldiers were an elaborate game to entertain the eldritch horror who had grown bored with the straightforward. As an entity with no equal among the stars, it grew to take pleasure in giving false hope to those who opposed its rule. The hope drained faces of broken heroes had an appeal that simple murders couldn't produce.

"They both are, sir." Gohan spoke this time.

Frieza had been defeated, in the end, but in didn't feel like a victory. They had fought hard and long, but it was mere luck that won in the end. A bizarre quirk in alien biology, an incredible burst of emotion, and it was over - Frieza had lost. A man with glowing golden hair and brilliant green eyes had appeared, and the dark lord had fallen. In his last desperate minutes, Frieza destroyed the whole of the planet, dragging the golden champion with him as he died - a bastard and a coward to the bitter end.

"I'm sorry kid, I can't help you." A floating cat with the voice of a squeaky old man should have been funny.

The golden hero had been Gohan's father. Goku had been member in a dying race, survived by only two. The significance of this was not wasted on Gohan, as it meant that most powerful remaining creature in known universe was standing, his back resting lightly on a tree, not a mile his friends and family. A man who had mere months ago laid siege to Earth and murdered half Earth's heroes. A man who had until mere days ago been a dutiful soldier in Frieza's army. A man whose allegiance was to himself alone, whose motivations were enigmatic, and whose intentions were a guess to anyone. Vegeta could reduce the Earth to ashes the very second he wanted to, and there wasn't a damned thing anybody could do about it.

_Nobody. _Gohan Thought. _But me._

"No, I think you might be able to. I want to try something." Gohan was excited, almost impatient.

_Throughout the galaxy, it seemed that life had sprung up in great variety all over the place. On most planets life was merely feral, never developing intelligent life. Some planets hosted beings that were intelligent but mostly innocuous, like the humans on Earth. Some planets had grown to produce life was inherently powerful or dangerous, like that which had lived on Namek or the races of many of Frieza's elite. There was one race, however, that stood out above the rest. A race of beings that had potential and versatility far beyond the reach of lesser creatures. A race of fighters known as the Saiyans._

"I need sensu beans, sir. Lots of them."

"Whut for kid? Those things are a lotta work to make you know!" This voice came from a short fat man with a deep nasally voice.

_It's honestly hard to wonder whether Saiyans were _designed _or bred in one way or another, but I just don't know. What I do know, is some of our capabilities. We are fighters at the core, with bodies built for speed and strength in great excess of most others in the cosmos. We seem to have an incredible capacity for reproduction, being able to successfully produce offspring with a species as incredibly detached as humans. When exposed to certain wavelengths of radiation, we can transform to beasts a hundred times our normal size, stronger and somehow even _faster_ than in our latent bodies._

"I need to test something, sir." Gohan said, still talking to Korin the Cat. "It's incredibly important. Our lives could depend on it." _If it worked, maybe. Maybe._

"Hmmmmm..." Korin droned, one furry paw to his furry chin. The other on an ancient staff radiating with untold powers. "What exactly do you have planned? Isense a drive within you. Almost as much as your father when I first met him. Single minded. Reckless."

"I'd feel more comfortable if I could test it first, before telling you. If that's alright, sir." Gohan was embarrassed to say it like that, but it was true. _If it works, __it's dangerous for you to know._

_There was also whatever happened to my father, short hours earlier. He seemed to experience a profound sadness, an emotion that was immediately consumed by a blind fury. He tapped into something. A monster within himself, fed from a well of energy independent of his own, depths unfathomable. Powerful. Angry. Primal. My father slipped into the abyss and the Monster emerged to take his place. The Monster had won the battle, and had died alongside the planet. I was terrified, I was more scared of that Monster than I had ever been__ of Frieza._

"I only have three for you right now, I gave the rest to Goku before he left." Korin paused. The finality of the word "left" hanging in the air. He reached over to a potted plant, and pilfered its fruit. He handed Gohan three small green beans. _Beans with the power to heal any physical injury, bring people back the brink of death. These should be farmed in fields the size of countries, not grown one by one in a pot a billion miles from anywhere._

"I don't want to trust you, kid. But I've made the same mistake with your father." Korin said deep in thought. After a long pause, he finished. "If you're a tenth the _kid_ he was, I know I won't regret this." _Well, if this doesn't work. You might not have time to regret it before we're all vaporized anyway._

"Thank you sir." Was all Gohan said before he took off in flight, barely hearing the confused shouts of an angry Yaijobe.

* * *

He was a hundred miles from Korin's Tower, hovering far above the clouds. It was in this vast expanse of empty space that he called upon his higher senses, honed sharp by Piccolo's brutal training and the ire of deadly enemies. He could feel the energy moving within himself, invisible tendrils that swirled and squirmed throughout his being, always restless, always moving. These energies were hidden at the moment, coiled tightly and tucked deep within his being and the aether beyond. Well hidden from prying eyes. Only enough power to allow himself flight and warmth was allowed to come forth and aid him. With confidence, the boy closed his eyes.

_Where are you?_

He focused on these energies and let his sight extend into a bubble around him, he observed the wind and the air and the light from the sun, dancing with the latent energy of the natural world. The bubble grew and grew, quickly and playfully as it worked its away to the ground. He felt the greatness of the trees and wildlife come into his view. H felt the tickle of grass and bugs and plants. He felt the joy of running water and the might of elder mountains beyond. He felt Korin and the stone of the ancient tower beyond that, and whole countries beyond that. He felt the rich dynamic energies of people. Some people had a solid feel to them, some felt rigid, others malleable, some simple ones felt pure, complicated ones could feel twisted and confused. Millions were in his sight, millions turned into billions, and his view soon encompassed the whole of the earth. Everything shimmered with beautiful power of his home, a thousand times more intense than the desolate wasteland of Namek. _It was good to be home._

Gohan searched the Earth for his target, and found it immediately. A brilliant source of fire bright enough to obscure lesser energies miles around. Vegeta was making no attempt at hiding himself.

_If anything, this sort of display implied a kind of boasting, and challenge to any and all that might oppose him. _

_Good, I can use that arrogance._

The boy called upon his powers of flight and was once again propelled at frightening speeds through the sky, putting Vegeta precisely behind him. He had located a spot on exactly the opposite side of the planet, a place that was solid ground and far away from any populated area. A place he could put his little experiment to the test.


	2. Chapter 2 - A Quirk of Alien Biology

_The most interesting thing about the Saiyans isn't our natural toughness, or our versatile reproduction. It's not our ability to transform into great beasts of folklore. It's not even our resilience or incredible recovery skills. The Monster that lurks at the bottom of the well is terrifying, unexpected, and earth-shatteringly powerful - but it's just a footnote to the __**real **__reasons Saiyans are so dangerous._

_Interesting in itself really, that we'd hog so many interesting abilities._

_When a Saiyan heals, its body does so in a way that make the body more difficult to injure in the future. Muscles become more dense, bones because harder, skin becomes stronger We become just a little tougher, just a little better, a more efficient killing machine. Compounded over a violent lifetime? It was how you could get powerhouses like Vegeta and Goku. _That_ was why Saiyans are special, not because we're big and strong, but because we have the capacity to be the biggest and strongest things out there. Unless exterminated outright, we can and will eventually grow to tower whatever threat looms against us._

_Frieza must have realized this at some point, at least in a crude way. To be scared enough to vaporize the Saiyan's homeworld, and purge the rest of the galaxy of the remnants. Why he kept Vegeta around if that was the case is a mystery._

_But... _"If I'm right." Gohan whispered to himself. "We haven't even scratched the surface."

Gohan relaxed. He extended his hands in front of him and let a token amount of his internal energy flow forth a few feet beyond his body, becoming detached from the well within. Detached, but still loyal, still obedient. He let it coalesce into something resembling solid heat and light. A sphere that glowed as a pinprick, a mere ember. He fed this ember with more energy, letting it grow larger, burn hotter and brighter. He fed his hungry pet until it was almost as big as he was, visible as sphere of brilliant bluish white energy. Powerful, but controlled. Submissive. Waiting for instructions.

"We don't have to be reactionary, and we don't have to be patient." _Not with miracle cures like Dendi and sensu beans lying around._

He felt more of the tendrils within him uncoil and reveal themselves, flowing through his muscles and organs and bone, filling evenly the whole volume of his body. Normally, he'd let the energy soak into his entire being, every cell. This ki was what gave fighters like him durability and strength. The stronger the physical body, and more ki it could generate and handle. The energy would in return strengthen the body to degrees impossible otherwise. It was a beautiful harmony, the body producing and housing the ethereal energies and the energies imbuing the body with incredible strength and durability.

_Regardless, this is stupid. _

It was with a mix of rational confidence and primal fear that Gohan banished the energies from most him, leaving his body incredibly exposed. He directed the ki to bind with the parts of him he absolutely couldn't lose; his heart, his lungs, his brain, and everything above the bottom of his neck. Perfectly invulnerable. Safe. He placed two of the little green sensu beans on a rock a safe distance away, and put the last one in his mouth.

_Seriously, this can't possibly be worth it._

He summoned the sphere of manifested ki, burning like a ball of eldritch fire. He inched it slowly towards him, cautiously, fear and doubt washing over him. The fear was boiling as the sphere got closer. It became almost a physical thing, pulling at him, kicking him, screaming at him to stop this stupidity. Eventually, Gohan couldn't take it anymore. He pushed out at the sphere. Not pushing it way, but bringing it straight through him. Pounds of flesh evaporated immediately, no smoke, just utterly destroyed.

_Mommy?_

Pain. PAIN. Excruciating. PAIN. Searing. PAIN. Burning. Consumption. PAIN. PAIN. Annihilation. Nothing. Numbness. Worry. Doubt. Shame.

_You deserve what's coming to you._

He dismissed the orb, which dissipated harmlessly into the air. It didn't matter. The damage was done.

As a final thought, he bit down and swallowed the bean, and fell into the welcoming embrace of nothingness.

* * *

Author's Notes:

It's clearly not over, so please feel free to reign in with suggestions/critques.


End file.
